Draft appliance.



P- M. SMILEY.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

FRANKLIN IVI. SMILEY, OF GOSI-IEN, INDIANA.

v:DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Speciieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

Application led April 9, 1909. Serial No. 488,845.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN M. SMILEY, citizen of the United States,residing at Goshen, in the county ofElkhart and State of Indiana, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Draft Appliances, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to draft appliances; and it has for its generalobject to provide a simple and eilicient draft appliance adapted to beexpeditiously and easily connected with and used to advantage on eithera vehicle tongue or a plow, harrow or analogous apparatus.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptionand claims when the same is read in connection with the drawings,accompanying and forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating the appliance constituting the bestpractical embodiment of my invention known to me, as the same appearswhen applied to a vehicle tongue. Figs. 2 and 3 are detail sectionstaken on the lines 2 2 and 3 3, respectively, of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is adetail rear ele-l vation illustrative of the manner in which the lefthand whiflietree and the lever carrying the said whiflletree areconnected withthe main bar of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a detailperspective view illustrative of the manner in which the upper and lowermembers of the short draft bar are pivotally connected together, andalso illustrating the manner in which the said members may be adjustedto separate their forward ends when the member is. disconnected from thetongue with a view of permitting lof `the member being readilydisconnected from the pin adjacent the right handend of the main bar.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of thedrawings, referring to which:

A is a vehicle tongue having the usual hounds a and also having across-rod Z) carried by the hounds.

B is the main bar of the appliance which,

is preferably, though not necessarily, made of sheet-metal, and is ofU-shape in crosssection, Fig. 2. At or adjacent itsmiddle the said mainbar B is provided with a vertical aperture c for the passage of the pin(not shown) through which the main bar will be connected with a plow,harrow or analogous device when the appliance is used on such a device.Adjacent its opposite ends the said main bar B is provided withpermanently connected pins Z which carry levers C and also serve for theconnection of links e, Figs. 3 and 4, which links are disposed below theend portions of the main bar and extend beyond the ends of said mainbar, as illustrated. Connected with the outer arms of the levers C andalso with the links e are whiiietrees D, while connected tothe innerarms of said levers C are hooks or other appurtenances E, through themedium of which the traces on the middle horse may be connected with theinnerl arm o'f the levers. Thus it will be manifest that while theappliance is adapted for three horses, it comprises but two trees D andis consequently simple and inexpensive and at the same time light inweight.

When my novel appliance is to be applied to and used on a tongue such asA, the main bar B is connected with the tongue through the medium of along draft bar F and a comparatively short draft bar G. The long draftbar F is pivoted to the main bar B at f i. e., at a point slightly totheleft of the aperture c, and at its rear end the said draft bar F isprovided with a vertically disposed hook g which rests at an acute angleto the major portion of the bar, Fig.- l, and is therefore adapted, whenthe main bar B is in working position, to engage the crossrod b in thehounds and rest close against the right hand side of the, tongue A. Fromthis arrangement it will be gathered that when the bar B is pulledforwardly therev is no liability of the hook g becoming casuallydisconnected from the rod b, and yet when the bar B is relieved offorward pull, the draft bar F may be readily moved rearwardly andmanipulated to disconnect the hook g from rod b. I would have itunderstood in this connection that notwithstanding the illustration ofthe hook g against one side of the tongue A, it is not essential for thesaid hook to be so arranged relative lto the tongue. A link I-I isarranged on and pivoted at it to the tongue A, and a removable andheaded pin I extends through the forward portion of the said link and isdropped in an aperture z' in the tongue, and is provided at its lowerend, when deemed necessary, with a nut j shown in Fig. 2. The said pin Iserves to detachably connect the upper and lower members lo and Z of thedraft bar G with the tongue A, and by reference to Figs. 2 and 5 it willbe observed that the said members 7c and l are pivotally connectedtogether at m, and that each member is provided in the inner edge of itsforward arm with a notch n. Vhen the parts are in the positions shown inFigs. 1, 2 and 3, it will be observed that the said notches n registerand receive the right hand pin cl, with the result that the draft bar Gris strongly and safely'conneeted with the main bar B. l/Vhen, however,the pin I is removed frein the members /c and Z, and the tongue A andthe members 7c and Z are swung into the positions shown in Fig. 5,relative to each other, it will be manifest that the notches n areseparated, and hence the draft bar G may be readily disconnected fromthe main bar B to better adapt the latter for use in combination with aplow or the like. At this point it is well to state that the pin f isremovable, and that therefore when the appliance is to be used on a plowor the like, the long draft bar F may also be readily disconnected fromthe main bar B.

In the use of the draft equalizer constructed as described and connectedin the manner set forth with a tongue such as A, it will be observedthat the load is pulled at two points, one of the said points being theconnection between the main bar B and the draft bar G, and the otherpoint being the connection between the draft bar F and the main bar B.-It will also be observed that the hook g of the draft bar F engages thebolt or pin b at the opposite side of the tongue A, with reference tothe point at which the draft bar is connected to the main bar B. It willbe further observed that my improvements render it feasible to arrangethe main bar B considerably forward of the point at which the ordinarydoubletree is attached to the tongue, this being advantageous becausethe directness of the draft on the load is increased in proportion asthe bar B is moved forwardly.

It will be noted that in the operation of my improvements as shown inFig. 1 the load is drawn from two points; also, that the link Gr isadapted to swing about the pin I asa pivot, and that the bar B isadapted to swing in a horizontal plane in a direction indicated by arearward movement of the hook g on the cross-rod Z9.

As before stated, the construction herein illustrated and describedconstitutes the best practical embodiment of my invention of which I amaware, but it is obvious that in the future practice of the inventionvarious changes in the form, construction and relative arrangement ofparts may be made within the spirit of my invention as defined in myclaims appended.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is:

1. A draft appliance comprising ay main bar, levers carried on the endportions thereof, a draft bar pivotally connected with the main bar andprovided with a hook, a pin carried by the main bar and arrangedadjacent one end thereof, and a second draft. bar made up of memberspivotally connected together and adapted to be detachably connected witha tongue and having notches in the inner edges of their forward arms,which notches when registered receive the said pin of the main bar andhold the said draft bar to the main bar.

2. rI`he combination in a draft appliance, of a main bar, a pin carriedthereby, and a draft bar comprising pivotally connected members havingrear arms adapted to be detachably connected with a tongue or otherdevice and also having notches in the inner edges of their forward arms;said notches when registered and retained in such position by theconnection of the members to a tongue or other device, being adapted toreceive the pin of the main bar and prevent disconnection of the draftbar therefrom.

3. The combination in a draft appliance, of a main bar equipped with apin, and a draft bar comprising members pivoted together and adapted toswing one with respect to the other; the said members being adapted tobe detachably connected to a tongue or the like, and being provided withmeans whereby they are held to the pin during the said connection andmay be swung one on the other and disengaged from the pin when detachedfrom the tongue or other device.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

FRANKLIN M. SMILEY. lVitnesses L. BURR N1-HWY, RAY DEM-IL.

